Abi Carter & Will Moseley’s Advice for 2025 ‘American Idol’ Top 10 (EXCLUSIVE)

Life has changed drastically for 2024 “American Idol” winner Abi Carter and runner-up Will Moseley, since the season 22 finale last May. Both artists are busy releasing new music, touring the country, and hobnobbing with celebrities after a whirlwind year.

Carter — who just released a deluxe edition of her 2024 “Ghosts in the Backyard” album — has appeared two weeks in a row on the 2025 edition of “Idol.” On April 28, she appeared onstage with artist-in-residence Jelly Roll and season 19 winner Chayce Beckham, all telling host Ryan Seacrest about their experiences playing the prestigious Stagecoach music festival over the weekend. On May 4, she performed her new single, “Burned” which she’ll perform when she hits the road again this fall on her new U.S. tour.

Moseley, meanwhile, has a new single out called “Mechanic” and has been on the road this spring with legendary country artists including Clint Black and Marshall Tucker Band. In June, he’ll be back in Nashville to perform at CMA Fest, likely reuniting with some of his pals from “Idol.”

EntertainmentNOW caught up with Carter and Moseley, who still get together when their schedules allow, and gathered their advice for the season 23 contestants who are sitting exactly where they were one year ago.

Abi Carter Admits She Was ‘Not in the Moment At All’ During Her Time on ‘American Idol’

Nearly a year after winning “American Idol,” Carter, 22, told EntertainmentNOW that it’s wild to see a new season underway already.

“To see these new promos and things, I’m like, ‘One of these people popping up on my screen is going to be me this year,’” she marveled. “Like, these people right now are going to be living the life that I’m living, and it’s wild. It’s really wild to think that there’s more coming. I’m really excited for everybody.”

As the competition heats up, with two live shows each week and constant preparation — from vocal coaching to rehearsals to wardrobe fittings — Carter told EntertainmentNOW that she’d advise remaining contestants to “live in the moment and enjoy your time on the show” because, she admitted, there were many days she wanted to go home.

“Even though you’re gonna have very fast paced days and very boring days, just kind of soak it all in, because the whole process happens so quickly, you have no clue,” she said. “Getting past each round, every week, feels like it takes so long. And then within like two days, it’s done and it’s over … and all of that time that you put into it before seems to have just kind of vanished.”

Carter said contestants often look back and realize how fleeting it all was, noting, “Maybe you’ll wish you would have spent more time with the other contestants, maybe you’ll wish that you weren’t so grumpy in the mornings. I mean, I was not in the moment at all. I was ready to go home, like, week two! I was so tired. Now, I just wish that I had a better, like, attitude about the whole process in general. You know, I love performing, but it’s the work in between that kind of gets you there.”

Moseley, 25, agreed with Carter, telling EntertainmentNOW, “I guess my only advice is just remember to breathe. Remember to breathe. Soak it all in. It goes behind a flash, and it’s a real good time while you’re there.”

Will Moseley Says Everyone on ‘American Idol’ is on a ‘Learning Curve’

In addition to having a good time on the show, Moseley said it’s important to be open to learning what you need to grow as an artist, knowing only one person will win the overall competition.

“I think everyone kind of sees the impact that ‘American Idol’ has and the potential that it has to jump start or change the trajectory of a career,” he told EntertainmentNOW.

The key for contestants, he said, is to take advantage of all the resources, advisors and exposure they get, no matter how much experience they came into the show with or when they leave.

“I absolutely think that the experience I had performing before the show had a large impact on on how I handled certain situations,” he said. “You know, there’s certain people who’ve never been on a stage that are having to learn how to hold a microphone and where to put it up next to their mouth and how close to keep it, how far to pull it away at certain points. Like, I feel like everybody’s at such a different learning curve all the time.”

“But it’s that way about everything,” he added, “because there’s people there who have never been a singer, but they’ve been a dancer, and then they go out there on the stage and they absolutely entertain everyone, right? And then you’ve got me, who’s definitely not a dancer!”

Abi Carter & Will Moseley Advise Season 23 Contestants to Take Judges’ Feedback to Heart

ABCRyan Seacrest, Abi Carter, and Will Moseley on the season 22 finale of “American Idol”
Both Carter and Moseley advised the contestants to honor the judges’ frequent feedback about song choice, connecting with the lyrics, and making each song unique to them.

“You have to know it by heart,” Moseley said. “Practice those songs. Figure out how to change it up, make it their own. It gets to a point in the live rounds where you have four or five days to learn (songs), and that’s it, like you’re on a tight rope.”

“I would say, believe in what you’re singing,” Carter advised. “Like, you need to connect to what you’re singing. If you don’t, and let’s say you get voted off, you’re gonna regret it. You’re gonna regret singing something that you didn’t believe in, or just not really being in the moment, being present with it.”

“But if you do believe what you’re singing and you get voted off,” she said, “you’re going to have no regrets.”

Even now, nearly a year after winning the show, Carter admits it still feels surreal,noting that it’s been a whirlwind going from busking on Southern California street corners to living in Los Angeles and touring the country with her own music.

“It’s such an out of body experience to not only be on a show like that,” she told EntertainmentNOW, “but to win a show like that. It still hasn’t sunk in for me. I don’t know if it ever really will, and that part of my life, I mean, is such a big part, but also it feels like a blip.”